In yesterday’s blog I wished my friend Greg White happy birthday and sung his praises, and here I go again, because he has done it again.

A couple of weeks ago I reported that the drum on our Splendide washer/dryer combo had stopped turning, though it had power and the pump runs. After going through a series of tests and talking to a technician at Westland Sales, Splendide’s authorized parts and repair source, he told me that the control board was shot, and that replacement boards were no longer available. It looked like we were going to be shopping for a new washer/dryer, which was not going to be cheap.

Greg suggested I remove the board out and send it to him and he’d see if he could fix it. And he did! Greg said there was a break in one of the circuits and he soldered a piece of wire in to reroute it and bypass the bad spot. He sent the board back and we installed it yesterday, and as I write this, the machine is churning away cleaning a load of laundry. To say Miss Terry was delighted would be an understatement. Thanks Greg!

Do you remember when people actually repaired things like Greg did? These days, no matter if it’s an automobile, a computer, or a household appliance, all “technicians” do is replace components. Nobody actually fixes anything.

This is the second time the Splendid has gone bad on us. Last winter we had to replace the pump. It’s eleven years old and hopefully it will continue to work for a while longer.

Except for the time spent pulling the Splendide out of its cabinet, getting the new board installed, and putting it back in its cabinet, I spent most of the day working on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. It was a nice day with a good breeze and I would have really preferred to be out flying my kite.

Bruce Miles, who has narrated the first two audiobooks in my Big Lake series is working on the third book, Crazy Days in Big Lake and sent me the prologue and first chapter to approve. It sounds great, as Bruce’s work always does. The finished book should be out by Christmas.

So let’s file this one under the Here’s Your Sign category; Verizon gives veterans a 15% discount on their bills, which is much appreciated. To get the discount all I had to do was take my DD-214 into a Verizon store a few years ago so they could make a copy of it. They also give discounts to government employees, among others.

A couple of weeks ago I received a notice that I had to go online and renew my discount. I tried, but to do it I need to submit a pay stub to show I am still employed by a qualifying agency or company. Uhh, guys, I don’t have a paystub because my eligibility is as a veteran. Now what? I called Verizon and the rep said I could do it all online, but I still couldn’t figure out how.

While we were in Seaside, Oregon I went to a nearby Verizon store to ask them what I should do, and they said I needed to go online and confirm that I am still a veteran. Still a veteran? That doesn’t change. Once a veteran, always a veteran, as far as I know. And there’s no way to confirm that in their online form. The young guys working at the store had no idea what to do, just “go online.” I think that really means “go away” so I did, and hopefully I can find somebody at a Verizon store here in Arizona to help me out.

Speaking of discounts, today is the last day for our special on our 7-in-1 book deal, which has been upgraded to an 8-in-1 with the addition of our new Hitching Post RV park reviews. If you haven’t taken advantage of it yet, this is a heck of a deal. Normally our 7-in-1 e-book guides to free campgrounds, RV good guys, RV dump stations, fairgrounds camping, casino camping, favorite restaurants, WiFi campgrounds sells for $24.95, but for a limited time, we’re offering it with the added bonus of the new Hitching Post RV park reviews for just $20! This is our way of saying thank you to our readers for your support over the years, so get it while you can. A lot of people already have! The deal ends at midnight tonight (Sunday) Arizona time.

It’s easy to order yours, just log onto www.paypal.com and make a $20 payment to editor@gypsyjournal.net and the updated 8-in-1 e-book guide will be delivered right to your e-mail inbox.

Thought For The Day – Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society. – Aristotle

15 Responses to “Greg Fixed It”

I tried the on line thing with the Veterans discount last night as my husband had received notice that it would expire (huh?) and wasn’t successful with the directions provided by Verizon. So thanks for the warning about what we may have to go through at a Verizon store. Sometimes modern technology sucks!

I took my VA Card in to a Verizon Store in Warrenton, OR and they faxed it in. Got an email the other day saying all is well. Here is the fax number the guy gave me: 877-873-1743.
Were stuck in Eugene, OR with a water leek in the belly of our rig. Grrr…

So happy Greg was able to come thru with fixing Terry’s washer. We looked at them at Camping world and was shocked at the price of them. We are sure glad we decided to leave South Dakota three weeks ago when it was still in the 90’s and not a snow flake around, Heard from friends who did not leave because their job commitments were not done, Rapid City and Custer got over 5 ft of the white stuff and as of last night blizzard conditions were in play. Thank heavens once again we have wheels on our home and can leave when the weather gets back.

I got the same email on the discount. But mine was from my former employer which was 10%. I noticed that veterans got the 15% so I called them and they said to go to any store and show them proof and they would take care of it. I did so and the store made a copy of my VA card and sent it in. So try another store I think you got a lazy salesman.

FYI: We retired from the state of Texas (TRS) and we get a 25% Verizon discount. Better than the 15% I got with my DD-214—while I was still working. Thanks Verizon & thanks to all you vets for serving. Spouse took care of renewal–maybe TRS pension “stub”.

Wow, after reading the post by “CC” I think I was too honest. When I was working Verizon gave me a 15% discount for being employed by our local county government. Being the honest guy I am, I notified them of my retirement and the discount was removed. I wouldn’t think that a retirement pension “stub” would cause me to receive the Verizon discount as I’m not “employed” anymore. With Verizon, I guess you just never know, however.

We too got the email about our 15% discount renewal…We made a copy of DD-214 and mailed it to Verizon customer service with a note..they called us this week, and said everything was okay and she would see the right department received it. I asked why we were picked as you said “once a veteran” “always a veteran”…she said we were picked at random. But we think too they just wanted us to “go away”.

To update my early morning comment about Verizon: We took hubby’s DD-214 to local Verizon and sales person had a hard time getting into the site to validate, but finally he used the stores smart phone, took a pic of the document and was able to get a tracking number for me to use if the discount doesn’t show up on the next bill. I asked him what the deal was because once a Veteran, always a Veteran and he agreed we should not have been included in the mass e mail.. We have had that discount on our bill quite a few years.

We also received the notification from Verizon about the veterans discount and all I did was scan his VA card and ‘say’ it was a pay stub. We have received word that everything is once again A-OK with the discount. That was a lot easier than going to a Verizon store.

My grandparents bought a refrigerator in the mid 1930s. In the 1970s they decided to buy a new refrigerator. They gave the old one to my parents. It was still working in my Mom’s home when she moved out in the early 1990s.

What ever happened to that level of quality in American manufacturing? Corporate America has replaced quality products, quality service and quality jobs with planned obsolescence, rapacious profiteering, and filling most positions with part time minimum wage workers who then need food stamps in order to survive.